US recommends women start screening for breast cancer at 40

A leading health panel in the USA has recommended the age at which women are regularly screened for breast cancer should be cut from 50 to 40.

The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) said an extra 20 million women in their forties would benefit from a mammogram every two years.

The change would save 20% more lives, according to the USPSTF, which has drafted the proposal in response to rising rates among middle-aged women.

Currently, all women in the USA aged 50 to 74 are advised to get checked via a mammogram every two years.

The number of new breast cancer cases is rising roughly two percent every year, John Wong, an internist and professor of medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine, who is on the task force, told the Washington Post.

Dr Wong said: "It is now clear that screening every other year starting at age 40 has the potential to save about 20 percent more lives among all women, and there is even greater potential benefit for black women, who are much more likely to die from breast cancer."

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Source: Mail Online, 9 May 2023